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Zeldapedia:Manual of Style
The users of Zeldapedia like things to be uniform, so this Manual of Style is here to set things straight. For information on the most basic writing techniques and styles, which are used here, see Wikipedia's Manual of Style. Below are some basic Zeldapedia formatting "dos" and "don'ts". General article info In general, characters, items and locations of the Legend of Zelda series should have their own article. However, some items that mostly share the same function, such as Essences of Nature have all been put in one page. This does not always apply, and should always be thoroughly discussed prior to creation, if possible. Recurring characters, items and places should be disambiguated into game-specific articles; for example, there are two subjects going under the name Agahnim, so different pages have been created for the ''A Link to the Past'' character and the ''Oracle of Seasons'' mini-boss. Be sure to properly link to avoid links leading to disambiguation pages such as the Agahnim page. No articles should have trivia sections. Try to find a way to integrate "fun facts" into other sections in the article. If no proper place can be found for such information, it likely does not belong at all. Characters Character articles should serve as a complete biography of the character in question. A proper character article should contain all the following: * An infobox. * An intro text with the character's name, what this character does and where s/he is located in the game s/he appears in. * A more fleshed-out biography under a "Biography" header. If the section contains spoilers, add the Spoiler template. Do not forget to close it with an Endspoiler template. ** If the character has a minor role within his/her respective game, a biography section may not be necessary. ** If the character appears in multiple games, subsections titled with the game name and the character's role in that game should be made. * The Navigation template for the game the character appears in. * Be properly, game-specifically categorized, e.g. Category:The Legend of Zelda: Link's Awakening characters; a category should be added for each game the character appears in. * Any unverified information, e.g. theoretical information should be put in a "Theory" (or in some cases, "Possible origin") header. "Sandwiching" the text under the header should be first a Theory template and then an Endtheory template. Example Purry is a character from The Legend of Zelda: The Minish Cap. It is a grey cat that sits on top of a bridge close to the southern entrance of Hyrule Town. When Link interacts with it while in Minish form, the cat will offer to fuse Kinstones with him. Purry is the only cat in The Minish Cap who will not attack Link when he approaches it in Minish form. Category:The Legend of Zelda: The Minish Cap characters Items An item article should contain all the following: * An Item box. * An intro text with name, which game it's from, function and location. * The Navigation template for the game the item appears in. * Be properly, game-specifically categorized, e.g. Category:The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time items. Locations A location article should contain all of the following: * A Location box. * An intro text with its name, which world it is located in, which game it's from and where it is located on the world map. * The Navigation template for the game the location appears in. * Be properly, game-specifically categorized, e.g. Category:The Legend of Zelda: Majora's Mask locations. Dungeons Dungeon pages should contain all of the following: * A Dungeon infobox. * An intro text with its name, which game it's from and its location. * A section on role in the story. * Info on the dungeon itself. Location, architecture and themes. * A list of enemies found within the dungeon. * A list of bosses and mini-bosses found within the dungeon. * A list of items found within the dungeon. * The Navigation template for the game the dungeon appears in. * Be properly, game-specifically categorized, e.g. Category:The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword dungeons. Spoilers To help people avoid being spoiled, templates have been placed on pages that mark key plot elements. When readers see the following: This template (located at Template:Spoiler) indicates that the following information contains crucial plot details that may ruin the story of the game for the reader. At the end of the plot details, readers will see the following: This template (located at Template:Endspoiler) indicates that spoilers end and that readers are free to continue reading without plot details being revealed. Sometimes, for the sake of completion, infoboxes may contain spoilers. In this instance, Template:S is used to hide spoilers until readers click on the word "Spoiler". Canon Zeldapedia has three levels of canon. Main canon, for the main series games in the series; Sub Series, for games officially published by Nintendo but do not fit into the main series like Link's Crossbow Training or Hyrule Warriors; and Non Canon for everything that does not fall into the first two categories. Usually games not published by Nintendo (like the CD-I Games) or material published by Nintendo but not presented as part of the The Legend of Zelda series (like Super Smash Bros. or Mario Kart). Adaptations such as mangas and books also belong in this category. When including content from subseries, pages must have the subseries template. This template (located at Template:Subseries) indicates the following information is from a spin off material. At the end of the section the readers will see the following: This indicates the spin off material section is now at an end. For noncanon sections a similar template is used. Located at Template:Noncanon. As well as an end noncanon template. Located at Template:Endnoncanon. When listing sections, games should be ordered by the release of the first incarnation of that title at the top, with newer releases following in order of age. Supplementary materials for games (such as information found in manuals, player's guides and Hyrule Historia) are considered to be in the same canon as the games so long as they do not contradict the games themselves. However when including such information, it should be noted where the information originates from. So instead of saying "Zelda II takes place in the Downfall Timeline", the page must read "According to Hyrule Historia, Zelda II takes place in the Downfall Timeline." Fan-made material Information regarding fan-made material should not be added to articles. Certain major fan works will have their own mainspace articles (see The Legend of Neil) and information regarding these works can be added to their respective articles. Please do not create an article for your own fanfiction or ideas regarding the series, as these will be deleted; however, you are free to create articles for these on the Zelda Fanon wiki. Additionally, before creating articles regarding other fan works, please start a discussion beforehand in a forum. Theories Theories regarding things from the Legend of Zelda series can be found on many articles in the site. However, it is recommended that before adding a theory to a page, you bring the theory up on its respective talk page. If the theory does not have enough supporting evidence, or does not make sense, it will be removed from the article it has been added to. When adding a theory to an article, please remember to use the Theory and Endtheory templates. Images Images should be presented in most articles; images that don't belong to the article will be removed. an image and place the formatting for it into an article to add it in. When uploading new images, try to find categories for them and do not forget to add the image's copyright information. Do not upload images with watermarks. In addition, each user can upload one "personal image" for use on their own userpage, subpages, or word bubble. Please remember to categorize it under User Images. Videos Zeldapedia does not allow the uploading of videos to the site, and videos will be deleted without warning. Any videos necessary for articles are provided by Zeldapedia's YouTube channel. Point of view All articles should have an in-universe, third-person point of view. For example, :"''Link defeated Ganondorf on Hyrule Field." is better than... :"The player defeated Ganondorf on Hyrule Field." and it should never say, :"You defeated Ganondorf on Hyrule Field." In specific cases, such as when writing about game mechanics (e.g., Z-targeting), it may be appropriate to use "the player". "You" should still not be used even in these circumstances. Verb tense Unless referring to a historical event of the ''Legend of Zelda series, articles should also be in present tense. For example, :"Link travels through the Kokiri Forest." is better than... :"Link traveled through the Kokiri Forest." Category:Policy